Reflections On My First Year

I started T’ai Chi Chih in January 2011 because I needed something to help keep my bones strong, and finding a class less than five minutes from my house was the best luck ever. Not being very confident, I didn’t want to attend my first practice until I was pretty sure there would be lots of instruction.

Lisa must have cajoled me into a good squat position immediately, as I remembered her for several days every time I stood up or sat down. Slowly I mastered the forward and back moves. Rocking Motion was my least favorite since my knees kept asking me to “go on to the next movement please,” way before we were done. With practice and by changing the width of my stance, I now enjoy the move. Lisa must have been itching to get me to an instruction day to correct my “taffy movements” as I was turning way round – to almost see behind me for a while. I am a little better now. For a while, I confused Carry the Ball to the Side with Pulling Taffy – wanting to take three steps sideways in Pulling Taffy and wondering why other people were not moving as far as I.

Summertime classes helped cement good movements into my body. I could also attend wonderful outdoor practices. Acquiring Carmen Brocklehurst’s DVD also helped and watching Internet videos of Justin Stone has been inspiring and uplifting. I can now do all 19 moves and the pose without my teacher cringing too much. Naming all the movements in order has been a relaxing technique to get to sleep recently. My bones are not disintegrating as rapidly as they used to be. This year I will try to move lower, slower and more slowly.

In a few years I will retire and we may move, so to make sure I have TCC wherever I go and to inspire others, I look forward to preparing for accreditation.